HHS Designation of Additional Members of the 

Special Exposure Cohort 

under the 

Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 

Designating a Class of Employees from 

Hanford 

Richland, Washington 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Hanford, Richland, Washington 
I. Designation 

I, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, designate the class 

of employees defined in Section II of this report for addition to the Special Exposure 

Cohort (SEC), as authorized under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness 

Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA), 42 U.S.C. § 7384q. 

 ____December 10, 2009 ___[Signature on file]______ 

 Date Kathleen Sebelius

II. Employee Class Definition 

All employees of the Department of Energy, its predecessor agencies, and its 

contractors and subcontractors who worked at the Hanford site in Richland, 

Washington, from October 1, 1943 through June 30, 1972, for a number of 

work days aggregating at least 250 work days, occurring either solely under 

this employment or in combination with work days within the parameters 

established for one or more other classes of employees included in the 

Special Exposure Cohort. 

III. Designation Criteria and Recommendations 

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q, for the class defined in Section II of this report, the 

Secretary has determined, and the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health 

(Board) has recommended, that 

(1) it is not feasible to estimate with sufficient accuracy the radiation dose that the 

class received; and 

(2) there is a reasonable likelihood that such radiation dose may have 

endangered the health of members of the class. 

The SEC final rule states in 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(1) that it is feasible in two situations 

to estimate the radiation dose that the class received with sufficient accuracy. First, 

the rule states that radiation doses may be estimated with sufficient accuracy if 

NIOSH has established that it has access to sufficient information to estimate the 

maximum radiation dose for every type of cancer for which radiation doses are 

reconstructed that could have been incurred under plausible circumstances by any 

member of the class. Alternatively, radiation doses may be estimated with sufficient 

accuracy if NIOSH has established that it has access to sufficient information to 

estimate the radiation doses of members of the class more precisely than a 

maximum dose estimate. 

The Board, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q, advised the Secretary to designate the 

class as an addition to the SEC in a letter received by the Secretary on November 

19, 2009. 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Hanford, Richland, Washington 

Page 2
IV. Designation Findings 

Feasibility of Estimating Radiation Doses with Sufficient Accuracy

The Secretary established the feasibility determination for the class of employees 

covered by this report based upon the findings summarized below. 

Feasibility of Dose Reconstruction Findings 

NIOSH lacks sufficient information, which includes biological monitoring data, 

sufficient air monitoring information, or sufficient process and radiological source 

information that would allow it to estimate the potential internal exposures to which 

the proposed class may have been exposed. 

NIOSH determined that it is likely feasible to reconstruct with sufficient accuracy the 

occupational medical dose received by Hanford workers. 

 

 There are currently two classes of Hanford workers associated with two previous 

NIOSH evaluations of SEC petition SEC-00057. The earliest period currently 

designated for inclusion in the SEC begins October 1, 1943. The latest period 

currently designated for inclusion in the SEC ends on December 31, 1968. 

 NIOSH determined that additional dose reconstruction infeasibilities exist due to 

work at Hanford with inadequately monitored radionuclides such as purified 

forms of polonium, thorium, and neptunium. These additional dose reconstruction 

infeasibilities envelop the time period of January 1, 1945 through June 30, 1972, 

and as such extend beyond the time period associated with the existing 

approved SEC classes for Hanford. 

 NIOSH determined that reconstruction of internal dose is not feasible for the 

summative time period from October 1, 1943 through June 30, 1972, due to the 

lack of adequate biological monitoring data, sufficient air monitoring information, 

or sufficient process and radiological source term data. 

 NIOSH further determined that there is insufficient information available to enable 

NIOSH to accurately assess whether an energy employee, or class of 

employees, did, or did not, potentially enter specific Areas of the Hanford site 

during the periods of time associated with both: 

1. the previously designated SEC classes; and 

2. the recently identified polonium, thorium, and neptunium dose 

reconstruction infeasibilities. 

 Due to the lack of access control and worker movement data, NIOSH determined 

that it is necessary to remove the Area-specific parameters associated with the 

current Hanford SEC class definitions. Therefore, NIOSH finds it necessary to 

include all workers and all areas in the proposed SEC class definition for the 

period from October 1, 1943 through June 30, 1972. 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Hanford, Richland, Washington 

Page 3
 Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(1), NIOSH determined that there is insufficient 

information to either: (1) estimate the maximum radiation dose, for every type of 

cancer for which radiation doses are reconstructed, that could have been 

incurred under plausible circumstances by any member of the class; or (2) 

estimate the radiation doses of members of the class more precisely than a 

maximum dose estimate. 

 The Board concurred with the NIOSH evaluation and recommended the 

proposed class for addition to the SEC. 

 Although NIOSH found that it is not possible to completely reconstruct radiation 

doses for the proposed class, the NIOSH intends to use any internal and external 

monitoring data that may become available for an individual claim (and that can 

be interpreted using existing NIOSH dose reconstruction processes or 

procedures). Therefore, dose reconstructions for individuals employed at the 

Hanford site during the period from October 1, 1943 through June 30, 1972, but 

who do not qualify for inclusion in the SEC, may be performed using these data 

as appropriate. 

 Health Endangerment

The Secretary established the health endangerment determination for the class of 

employees covered by this report based upon the findings summarized below. 

(1) Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3), NIOSH established that there is a 

reasonable likelihood that such radiation doses may have endangered the 

health of members of the class. Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3)(ii), NIOSH 

specified a minimum duration of employment to satisfy this health 

endangerment criterion as “having been employed for a number of work days 

aggregating at least 250 work days within the parameters established for this 

class or in combination with work days within the parameters (excluding 

aggregate work day requirements) established for one or more other classes 

of employees in the Cohort.” 

(2) NIOSH did not identify any evidence from the petitioners or from other 

resources that would establish that the class was exposed to radiation during 

a discrete incident likely to have involved exceptionally high-level exposures, 

such as a nuclear criticality incident, as defined under 42 C.F.R. § 

83.13(c)(3)(i). 

(3) The Board concurred with NIOSH’s finding that the health of the class may 

have been endangered and defined the class according to the 250-work day 

requirement specified under 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3)(ii). 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Hanford, Richland, Washington 

Page 4
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Hanford, Richland, Washington 

Page 5

V. Effect and Effective Date of Designation 

The Secretary submits this report on the designation of one additional class to the 

SEC for review by Congress, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 7384l(14)(C)(ii) and 

7384q(c)(2)(A), as amended by the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense 

Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005, Pub. L. No. 108-375 (codified as amended in 

scattered sections of 42 U.S.C.). Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384l(14)(C)(ii), as 

amended by the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 

Year 2005, Pub. L. No. 108-375 (codified as amended in scattered sections of 42 

U.S.C.), the designation in this report will become effective 30 days after the date of 

this report’s submission to Congress “unless Congress otherwise provides.” 

VI. Administrative Review of Designation 

The health endangerment determination of the designation provided in this report 

may be subject to an administrative review within HHS, pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 

83.18(a). On the basis of such a review, if the Secretary decides to expand the class 

of employees covered by this designation, the Secretary would transmit a 

supplementary report to Congress providing the expanded employee class definition 

and the criteria and findings on which the decision was based.